A Captain's wife - my fears

As a captain's wife - I have a lot of fears. I worry about Mike anytime he's out on the water. What if something happens to him while he's on the boat? I trust his abilities as a captain implicitly - he's very experienced and learned from some of the best charter captains in Destin. He knows the water and knows boats.

It's the unknown that scares me. I always worry about him getting hurt or having a heart attack while he's out fishing. I find comfort knowing that we have a Coast Guard station in Destin - and they would be able to respond quickly if there was ever an emergency.

His days start early and end late when he's fishing - he's up around 4 a.m. and back home at the earliest after 5 p.m. and last night he didn't pull into the driveway until almost 10 p.m.

I learned a long time ago not to worry too much - it was the years he spent charter fishing that taught me how to keep cool when the sun went down and he wasn't back at the dock. He knows what he's doing and there are plenty of other captains out there - and they look out for each other on the water.

My afternoon quickly turned from peaceful to turbulent this afternoon when my brother called to say his best friend was out fishing and heard on the radio that the Coast Guard was looking for my husband.

Immediately I was suspicious - my husband's nickname in the fishing community is Budlight (has nothing to do with beer!) - and I was curious as to what name his friend Brian heard on the radio.

"Mike L. Hinze"

You can't get much more specific than that - I asked him to call Brian back and ask what boat they were looking for. The man who owns the boat they are on recently purchased a different boat - a change from a Regulator to a Contender.

"Contender"

That was two for two and I knew it was a legitimate call.

I felt my heart drop - and the "what if's" started to go through my head.

I placed a phone call to one of our dear captain friends - in the hopes that he was not fishing today. He was home and I explained what I'd been told and he offered to call the Coast Guard for me.

In the meantime I called Mike's partner's wife to see if she knew anything.

BINGO.

She told me that at the request of the owner's wife she'd called the Coast Guard to track them down. His wife expected them home around 2 p.m.

To say that I was upset is an understatement.

The Coast Guard is for true emergencies and a boat that is 2 hours "late" isn't an emergency.

Don't get me wrong - I understand her anxiety because I've dealt with it for years.

However I felt it was overkill and a waste of worry.

What really upset me though was the fact that Mike's partner's wife didn't call me to either ask what I thought or to give me a head's up that she was calling the Coast Guard to look for my husband.

Maybe she didn't realize how well connected my husband is to the fishing community - within certain circles he's very well known - he should be - he's been fishing with those guys for 20 years.

I had to hear it from someone out on the water - and that caused me undue worry because I reserve calling the Coast Guard for a true emergency.

Mike is back in now and the story has been told.

A faulty fuel filter caused them to leave the dock much later than planned and Mike says he should have called me to let me know they were running late. Although it wouldn't have really mattered because even though I would have known - if I wasn't called prior to the Coast Guard - it still would have played out in the same way - except I could have put a stop to it earlier.

Mike says it is all ridiculous and certain parties are upset that I lit into them about this -

Well my only apology is that I'm sorry that I get a little worked up about having to hear from a third party that my husband is being searched for by the Coast Guard. That got me just a little worked up - as it should have. I've got two very young kids to worry about and Mike is the only income we have. We've got plenty of life insurance - but I'd much rather have my husband.

If she would have just called me to let me know - it would have made things a whole lot better -

So I'm thankful that he's safe and everything is fine. My kids will be happy to kiss and hug their daddy tonight when he gets home. They miss him - they haven't seen much of him these last few weeks.